BYOB: Bring Your Own Brand

Today’s topic is something not discussed too often in public. It’s rather impolite. That’s why it’s the best time to talk about it.

It’s the dream of every company to hire sales people that have a solid rolodex of contacts. Even if the job posting won’t allude to this, this is made plainly clear in the face-to-face interview process. It’s as though companies think that some magic wand can be waved and sales people will convince everyone in their rolodex to buy your product or service.

Who are we kidding? If it were only that simple. It still amazes me that company heads/management don’t really understand that not everyone will need or want what you’re selling.

So instead of asking the new sales hire to bring his/her rolodex, you should be more curious if they are bringing an asset that’s of far greater importance to the table: their brand.

We all have a brand and the ones that have finely cultivated their contact base are those that have the most loyal of customers. When customers switch vendors to find you, you know you've done a great job. It’s the biggest compliment and a testament to the old adage people buy from people they like.

Thought Leadership Domination

In the modern day world of social networks, branding is more important than any other time. Sales professionals who are socially active are able to wield significant influence over their networks. Social selling allows one to share ideas, best practices, resources, assets and a host of other information that can position that person as a thought leader in her space.

Ask yourself how many sales people today are doing this? And herein lies the greatest opportunity for sales people in our generation. Those that use social media to their advantage are – literally – dominating over their competition. As a sales person, you can build great rapport within you client base. But by building your brand online, you’re now able to leverage that time and time again. It’s the gift that never stops giving. If you think about it, your brand and reputation are the only things you can take from company to company.

Revenue Domination

In addition to being the person that’s viewed as the thought leader, you’ll be able to capitalize on this by crushing your quota. Think about that last tailgate party picture you shared on Facebook, how many likes and comments did you get? Well, now imagine sharing a hot whitepaper that your prospects and buyers are liking, commenting on and sharing. Your words become your digital soldiers. People in their networks are now seeing this content. And you know what they say; if you’re connected to someone, their networks are likely FULL of similar people.

That’s one example of how to convert your brand into a quota crushing machine. Think it’s not possible? There are now a sea of success stories of how sales people just like you are using social selling to get meetings faster, nurture deals, shorten the sales cycle and, most importantly, bring in business.

The Bottom Line

For sales leaders, it’s critical that you teach your sales professionals the invaluable skill of becoming a thought leader. Keeping them tied down with “smiling and dialing” just isn’t working anymore. And for sales professionals, it’s equally important that you investigate how you can begin using the power of your brand with social selling.

Have questions or concerns on how to get started? I’m here to help. Feel free to pick a time in my calendar that works for you.

All the best in building your own brand!

To learn more about Social Selling check out 10 Steps to Becoming a Social Selling Machine. For tips, tricks and more rants, we could always set-up a time to chat using my below schedule ...